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“I’m having a cup of this now and I had a cup of Kusmi’s St Petersburg earlier. I really like both, but I can’t decide which of the two I like best. They’re very very similar...”
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“This is the last of my Kusmi blends from the sampler that I have to get rid of. I am not big on the Kusmi base but I discovered I liked it better cold brewed. However, this one has spices in it,...”
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“I’m moving in slow motion today. Hubs and I went out to a bar for karaoke for a friend’s birthday last night. Good thing my esophagus seems to be back in fighting shape – the AR...”
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105 Tasting Notes

I’m having a cup of this now and I had a cup of Kusmi’s St Petersburg earlier. I really like both, but I can’t decide which of the two I like best. They’re very very similar but still different enough to be different.

I want to buy a tin of one of them (when I’m no longer forbidden to buy tea of course) but which one??? Don’t say ‘get one of both’, please. They may both be yummy and there may be a difference between them, but there still similar enough that I don’t really need both of them at the same time.

Since I can’t decide which is better, and I also rated them very similarly originally (one at 88 and one at 84 or something like that), I’m adjusting both their ratings to an average. It seems like the right thing to do.

I’ve noticed that I’ve added this one to my steepster shopping list, though. I don’t know if I’ve added the St Petersburg also, but if I haven’t, maybe I should let that be a clue from fate and get this one?

Turns out I actually added both. But two votes in favour of St P, I guess that might be the one. I’m not really that fond of spices in tea either but somehow in this one it just works. It’s the exception that confirms the rule, I guess. (Also I love how it smells!)

This is the last of my Kusmi blends from the sampler that I have to get rid of. I am not big on the Kusmi base but I discovered I liked it better cold brewed. However, this one has spices in it, and it was not tasty cold brewed. Oh well.

So I’m having it with milk and sugar right now. It’s ok. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. It’s kind of like a citrusy chai. Three more servings of this one to sip down.

Preparation

Perhaps you can temper it a bit by blending it with a plain black tea that you like better. I’ve found I can get rid of high-grown Ceylons that I was unaware were high-grown at the point of purchase that way. Of course in this case it might mess with the flavouring somewhat.

Another tea from Amy oh! :3 This one smells ever so slightly like Teavana’s Spice of Life. I don’t know if I’m the only person, but I think that some of Kusmi’s teas sound eerily akin to each other. Either way, this one sounded interesting! I noticed that also similar to Spice of Life, someone has commented about it smelling like coca cola. I get a small hint of that.
The dry leaf has a very distinct vanilla smell; where as the liquor reminds me of the Kusmi cinnamon.
This is pretty tasty! I do have to admit that mine ended up tasting very much like the cinnamon tea. There are some elements of light citrus in there, but not as heavily as the aforementioned Spice of Life. This does have a hit of lemon at the front of the sip that is quite nice. I really actually like lemon flavored blacks for some strange reason. I’m going to have to try steeping this at a slightly lower temperature next time because I lost out on a lot of the vanilla that is in the dry leaf smell. I really wanted some more of that to come through.
Overall I find this to be a comforting and wakeful cup.
P.s. am I the only person who automatically thinks “Putin” after hearing Vladimir???

I’m moving in slow motion today. Hubs and I went out to a bar for karaoke for a friend’s birthday last night. Good thing my esophagus seems to be back in fighting shape – the AR appears to have given up for now. I still need to go make a doc appointment though.

So I am letting a prince rescue me for once – Prince Wladimir that is. I love that the Kusmi labels have both English version of the names and the European/French ones.

I am out of half&half, unfortunately, so it’s not as good and frothy as I usually make my lattes. Plain old milk just doesn’t do it for me!

So, I didn’t realise that momo had sent me the loose version of this, and Nicole had sent me the tea bags. But thank you both! I didn’t even remember having both. And then I checked my excel file to update some things and surprise!.

So this review is for a bagged cup (though really it’s just an overall babble). I went back a corrected my initial review for as it was for the loose version. So yeah. I’m as scatter brained with my tea as I am in real life. So that’s refreshing.

Now that I’m on my fourth cup of this in total (not tonight, no worries), I’ve found it’s really grown on me. The cloves and orange just scream autumn and it’s really a balanced cup overall. The vanilla is complementary and smooths the whole thing out. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but it’s just a solid cup of tea. And sometimes that’s all you need.

Preparation

The rating on this one doesn’t so much reflect the quality of the tea – because really it’s quite a nice tea – but rather my own personal tastes. I’m rarely in the mood for spicy teas (which is why I log chai so infrequently) and while this tea isn’t chai-level spicy, it has enough spice to it that I just really can’t see myself going out of my way to get this tea.

The leaves smell of lemon with a tingle of pink grapefruit, creamy vanilla and light spice. And that’s pretty much what it tastes like – creamy, fruity and a little spicy. It’s silky smooth but not as heavy as Troika. This could be because either I brewed Troika with hotter water or simply Troika is just a heavy, rich tea. Actually, I think part of it is the citrus used in this tea – it gives the taste profile a little bump into lighter, more refreshing territory and keeps it from feeling too heavy or rich. Perhaps if it were just vanilla and spice, this would be another rich, decadent tea.

I think those that like spice in their teas would really enjoy this. In fact, the husband, who is more partial to spice in tea, gave this an 81. But ultimately as tasty as the tea + fresh citrus + vanilla is, the tingle of spice at the end just makes me not love it.

Love Kusmi teas – only because there teas are so simple – what they describe is what you get in taste. There isn’t much complexity nor that much nuance to their teas but sometimes, that’s what you need! I had an oolong yesterday that I can’t yet post because it was soooo complex and kept altering itself on every infusion but Kusmi teas (the ones I’ve had) are very obvious – you get what they say you should taste.

Morgana, I honestly wasn’t expecting too much from Kusmi but decided to go ahead and give them a try. I’ve been pleased so far! As lauren says, they are very straightforward teas, but nicely done (I think).
Teaplz, I picked up an assortment set from Kusmi which had 25g each of 5 Russian blends and, from what I gather, the Russian blends are kind EG variations. Thus all the citrus, I’m sure. (Plus, I do love me some citrus so I had to try them out!)
laruen, there really isn’t much complexity, but at the same time they aren’t boring teas which is kind of rare!

Totally agree! I think they do a nice job of the blending – smooth and uncomplicated! Kusmi & Harney’s top my list when I think blended or flavored (but, of course, I’ve only tried a limited number of tea companies … so far!).

Thanks to Sil for the sample!
Hmmm, I like this one. Kindof. Well, the first steep anyhow. True orange, nice and tart! with some cinnamon spice to balance it out. Yep, I could get used to this tea. As long as I don’t expect more than one cuppa, which is nice because I often feel guilty for not steeping again if I don’t get the chance.
Rating: 84

So, this morning I decided I was bored with the work tea stash, but didn’t have a lot of time to pick things out. However, I remembered that Sil had sent me some black teas, so I grabbed a handful of things and left! This was the result :)

I brewed this up not having the faintest idea what to expect. It looked like orange pieces in the tea, but I wasn’t all that sure. I didn’t manage to drink the tea hot (had more important things to do in other buildings), so it sat cooling on my desk for about six hours, and I’m just getting to it now.

I am having a very difficult time describing the flavour/aroma here. After reading the description, I can taste cinnamon and perhaps some citrus and vanilla as well, although they are very muted. It tastes much like Red Rose, but with some flavouring making it tasty enough to drink straight. I’m not sure what I would have thought about it if I hadn’t known what was in it though – I think “flavoured black”, perhaps with some spices, would have been the farthest I got. I’m just not good at articulating what I can taste!

Either way, it’s not bad (I drank it rather quickly just now), and not astringent/bitter, so I’d definitely drink it again. Not a tea I’d pick up for myself though – this combo of flavours is done better by DT in Glitter & Gold, IMO.

Thanks for this one, Sil!

Preparation

It was ok! Actually, when I went into my office later, it definitely smelled a bit more like a weak Glitter & Gold, but I never would have made the connection without reading the description of the tea.

I’m not sure about this one. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing. I guess it was pretty average, despite the fact this was probably the tea I was second most excited about in my sampler.

I did not get spices AT ALL, so it’s really weird to look through everyone else’s notes and see cinnamon and cloves. I wonder if they come out at a lower temperature, because I used boiling water. I’ve had zero problems using boiling water for all my Kusmi blacks. I’m basically steeping them like I do Darjeelings now that I think about it, boiling and 3 min.

Instead I got a very strong grapefruit flavor, just a little bergamot and lemon, and a creamy finish. It’s very subtle compared to some of their other teas.

I let it cool off entirely and it lost all its flavors really and was just a nice black tea. This one is odd.

Amanda (for me you’re still Amanda ;)) try at 90°C, it is the temperature I use with Prince Wladimir and I get the spices (strong cinnamon and strong cloves). Like you my favorite Kusmi is Anastasia but Prince Wladimir is really a nice blend, just give it another try.

First sniff of leaves – cloves!! Ahhh! Reminds me of being 14 years old and going to all ages punk shows full of clove cigarette smoke. To this day, all I have to do is smell cloves and I’m instantly full of Anger and Too Much Eyeliner!!! I can’t keep up, I can’t keep up, I can’t keep up! Out of step! With the wooooooorld!!!! (ooops, it’s not 1983! step AWAY from the Minor Threat record (yes I still have it. yes I still listen to it. Shut up!!)

I steeped it at two minutes because I planned to have it with no milk and just a touch of sugar. That was a good call – it’s definitely a “without milk” tea. I’m getting cloves and caramel in a smooth tea base. I’m not tasting any citrus or any of the other flavors that are said to be blended in, which is ok by me :) I’m enjoying Clove Nostalgia Land. But! I think it can take 3 minutes, and I will try that next time.

I decided to do a resteep for the heck of it, at 5 minutes. Not bad! Less tea. Clove-y! Just added another small pinch of sugar.

Final thoughts: Great tea for work where I sometimes want a black tea but don’t want to worry about having milk around. I want to look into some more Kusmi teas for exactly this purpose! Very very very enjoyable!

My husband still has the record too and now he has our 14 year old son “out of step” too! I thought my husband/son were the only ones still listening to them though :) He will be so happy to know that he’s not alone!!

JacquelineM, Massimo got up and went outside late last night but he was really wobbly he is currently in bed and asleep and isn’t really responding to any of his normal trigger words (go outside, wanna eat, etc.) if I thought he was in pain I would load him up and take him to the vet but he is just sleeping away. Thank you for inquiring (he’s my big baby).